The present invention is concerned with insulated containers, and more particularly with a novel and improved insulated water container for dogs or other pets.
Providing drinking water for dogs or other pets, especially when the pets are kept out-of-doors, creates a number of problems during extreme weather conditions. For example, during winter months when the out-of-doors temperature is substantially below the freezing temperature of water, normal water dishes and the like tend to freeze or fill with ice fairly rapidly, and hence must be frequently emptied and refilled. Similarly, during extremely hot weather, the water may become unpalatably warm relatively rapidly, thus also requiring relatively frequent changing to maintain a relatively fresh supply of cool water for the pet.
When an insulated container or dish is utilized for the water, such heating or cooling may be retarded somewhat. However, such containers are usually open-topped to expose a substantial surface area of the water so that the dog or other pet may have ready access thereto. Unfortunately, the exposure of a substantial surface portion of the water causes relatively rapid changes in temperature thereof during the above-mentioned extremes in weather. Hence, even an insulated container fails to fully alleviate the problem.
If an insulated container of substantial depth or volume is utilized, the thermal mass of water within the container may additionally retard the temperature changes at the surface somewhat. However, I have found that during extremely cold winter months, ice forms relatively rapidly at the surface of the container. This is no doubt due to the density-with-temperature variation in water which causes ice to form at the surface thereof long before freezing of water below the surface.
Accordingly, I have developed a novel and improved insulated water container which insulates a substantial volume and surface area of water from the elements while nonetheless permitting ready access to an adequate surface portion of water for drinking by a dog or other pet. Advantageously, my novel water container completely isolates a relatively small exposed surface portion of the water accessible to the pet from a relatively large volume of water within the insulated container. This provides a substantial volume of available water while insulating a major fractional portion of this volume from external temperature extremes. Moreover, I have found that this substantial volume of insulated water acts as a heat sink or thermal mass to greatly retard changes in temperature of the relatively smaller volume of water in the accessible or exposed drinking area.